With everything from her morning meeting with Dumbledore still pressing on her mind, Hermione did her best to join her friends in Hogsmeade without creating suspicion. Suddenly it hit Hermione that in less than a day, she would be living in a timeline where she didn't actually exist. There would be no Hermione Granger until she got back, however long that would take. A split second in 1996 could be months in 1977, all depending on how long Hermione took to severe their ties with Peter. And would her existence as Harper Slughorn become erased from time, just like that? Would James and Lily remember her, or would she fade to less than a memory?

Not even a glass of butterbeer took away the what-ifs Hermione continued to think about as she tuned out her friends. It was so hard for her to believe that technically, she would only be gone for a moment, if she time-traveled correctly, of course.

Another butterbeer for herself and Ginny allowed for Hermione to calm down a tad more than before. Harry and Ron had never seen Hermione drink something so fast. Walking back to Hogwarts next to the boys was more relaxed than Hermione had expected. Despite being slightly under the influence of the butterbeer, she did her best to take in every last moment she could with Harry, Ron, and Ginny before nightfall.

The start of a new term marked one of the only times throughout the year in which the four of them were less worried about the Dark Lord and his tactics than before. However, it would be a much newer beginning for Hermione, starting tonight.

Even though Hermione wanted to spend time with her friends now more than ever, she had packing to do. Everything that she had so neatly placed into the cupboards, hung up in the closet, and unpacked onto her nightstand had to be shoved back into her trunk. Luckily for Hermione, she was alone during this process. Lavender and Pavarti walking in on her would only lead to another string of lies that Hermione was nowhere near ready to tell.

Borrowing Harry's invisibility cloak, however, caused Hermione to tell even more lies than she intended to. "I want to get to twins back for when they pranked me at the end of last year," she lied, yet again, "and I need to be invisible for it." Now, on top of saving Harry's parents' lives, Hermione had to prank one of the hardest two people to prank, as soon as she got back.

But Hermione was confident in the cloak's powers and knew that it would be of great aid to her back in 1977. And, she would technically only be borrowing Harry's cloak for no less than a day.

Soon enough, the time for dinner came along. Ravenous, Hermione savored both the amazing food and the last quality time with her best friends for a long while. They laughed. They joked. They messed around all evening until an older prefect ordered all Gryffindor students to get ready for bed. All Hermione had to do was wait.

It was another sleepless start to the night for Hermione. After quite a bit of reading and listening to Pavarti's loud snoring, it was time for her to grab her belongings and make her way back down to Hagrid's hut. Coming in handy for the first time of many, Hermione swung the invisibility cloak over her head while still in the dormitory. Wingardium Leviosa helped float Hermione's trunk while she snuck out of the room without a sound.

She took one last look at the Gryffindor common room that she had grown to love over the years, and prepared herself for a different, older one.

After dodging Snape, creeping past Filch, and hiding from a few Hufflepuff prefects, Hermione successfully made her down to Hagrid's small house without being seen. Standing over by Hagrid's large pumpkin patch, was the wise headmaster, dressed in his usual pale grey robes.

Dumbledore wasn't shocked to instantly see Hermione once she removed Harry's invisibility cloak and set down her trunk.

"Are you ready Ms. Granger?" he asked in a scratchy voice as she walked over in his direction with her trunk in hand.

Hermione replied with a shaky, "I guess so," and her heart began to beat faster than before.

"I want you to remember this one thing before I send you off, Ms. Granger. This type of task becomes vague when you discuss the length of it. It could be weeks, It could be years, Hermione. It's all up to you." he answered. She shrugged.

"So, you've brought your time turner, correct?"

"Yes, it's right here." Hermione used her shaky hand to lift up the powerful hourglass necklace from underneath her robes.

"Why don't you put the cloak in your luggage now. It's almost time for you to go."

Hermione's nervousness nearly overcame her as she did was Dumbledore asked of her. It was still so hard for her to believe that she would be meeting Harry's parents as seventh-years. It would be strange, to say the least.

"Once you've done that, grab a hold of your drunk and turn the dial thirty-eight times counterclockwise," he said. He then pulled out his wand and tapped lightly on the time turner before saying, "I've charmed it so you won't have to turn it hundreds of times to go back to the proper year. Now, each turn represents six months back in time."

He continued with, "remember, counterclockwise to go back in time, and clockwise to go forward in time. Also, I've charmed your trunk so that the initials read H.S. for Harper Slughorn," he said. Using a spare bit of parchment and a quill she had stored in her pocket, Hermione took her final notes regarding the properties of the time turner, eager to never forget it.

"And lastly, Ms. Granger, in this timeline you are Harper, not Hermione. It would not be wise of you to give information to anyone that would reveal events of the future."

Hermione gulped. "You may twist the time turner whenever you're ready," he calmly said.

Taking a breath deeper than ever, Hermione placed her fingers on the border of the hourglass and began to turn the dial counter-clockwise, speaking the number aloud so she wouldn't make a mistake and forget.

"1, 2, 3..." she began, watching as the castle grounds faded away, much faster than they did in her third year. The days and nights blended together, and Hermione's surroundings morphed before her eyes. Still twisting the time turner, she watched as the castle aged in reverse. Although the days were getting younger, she wasn't.

"...36, 37, 38," Hermione finished, nearly stuttering the last few numbers. She was swept off of her feet in no way like before, landing on the ground with a loud thump. With heavy eyes and a queasy stomach, it felt to Hermione as if she had just apparated.

Surprised by the unexpected noise, a large man walked out of the hut that Hermione was near, and shouted, "well what do we have here?" in his deep voice.

While Hermione's eyes were still adjusting, a much younger version of Rubeus Hagrid hopped over her trunk and looked at her with a puzzled face. "Isn't the Hogwarts Express not due to arrive for another 2 hours?" he suspiciously asked.

"Oh, my father just dropped me off early to meet with my uncle. He's a Professor here, you see," she replied, praying that Hagrid wouldn't grow more suspicious. As of now, Hermione played the role of Harper quite nicely. She stuck out her hand to shake Hagrid's as if she had never met him before.

"My name is Harper Slughorn, it's nice to... meet you, sir," she said cautiously, while Hagrid stood motionless, intrigued, and excited to meet a new student.

"Oh! You must be related to our Potions Master," he spoke excitedly.

"Yes, I'm his niece."

"It's lovely to meet you, Harper. Professor Dumbledore's told me that you're transferring from Beauxbaton's to Hogwarts for your last year."

As she said, "yes, and it's great to meet you too," in reply, Hermione's brain paused for a moment. It baffled her how the Dumbledore from 1977 could possibly know the details about the mission through time that Dumbledore from 1996 had sent her on. Being headmaster, it seemed as if his knowledge and power had no limits, which continued to amaze Hermione year after year.

But Hagrid continued to introduce himself as she thought. "I'm Rubeus Hagrid," he said, "Keeper of Keys and Grounds Keeper here at Hogwarts. I'm sure you'll love it here, everyone does. I trust you know how to get to the castle from here, correct?"

After Hermione nodded and grabbed her belongings, Hagrid retreated into his hut, leaving Hermione alone in 1977. She walked up the same path back to the castle that she took before, carrying the trunk with her new initials etched into it, and hoping that her name wasn't the only thing that would change after everything was said and done.

A/N: so, that's the third chapter i guess...opinions?? do we like the name harper or no? thanks for 50 reads!

A/N UPDATE (6/10/20): editing these are taking me so long! i literally have to rewrite every single sentence because they were literal trash beforehand. sorry abt that... so now i'm like 99% sure all grammar errors are fixed, please lmk if i missed any so i can fix it! thanks for 121K reads. - callahan